Campaigners against a housing development planned for land in the buffer zone of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site are to protest outside Amber Valley Borough Council on Monday night.

Hundreds of people have registered their opposition to a planning application for 118 homes to be built on land at Whitehouse Farm – which would be demolished – in Belper Lane at Belper, but has been recommended for approval by council officers.

Wendy Mitchell, who is a member of the Belper Lane Community Action Group, said that if the homes go-ahead then “it will put the whole of the heritage site in peril”.

Whitehouse Farm would be demolished to make way for 118 homes in Belper Lane (Image: Google Maps)

She said: “So many people and organisations worked so hard to gain World Heritage Site status for the Derwent Valley. This was in order to protect our very special heritage, and the borough council, with this one act can wipe away all that work.

“The proposed development land is in the buffer zone of the heritage site, specifically created to protect the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site. By allowing these green fields to be concreted over to build houses, the council is removing the very heart of our treasured heritage site designation. It not only affects Belper, but the whole of the 24 km stretch of the heritage site, as it will set a planning precedent.

“Not only are the fields being lost, but Whitehouse Farm has recently been designated as a world heritage site attribute, and in allowing this to be demolished, another significant local heritage asset will be lost forever.”